Revealed: The number of medical staff involved in the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte

The birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children was supported by a 23-strong team of medical experts and other staff - a senior member of the group has revealed.

Only a handful of midwives and others led by a consultant obstetrician were in the delivery room to supervise the birth of Prince George and Princess Charlotte but waiting in the wings were more than a dozen experts in case of emergencies.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince George (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Theatre staff were on stand-by along with a lab technician, replacement anaesthetists and paediatricians and Professor TG (Tiong Ghee) Teoh - a back-up for the consultant - was on hand along with workers from a special baby care unit.

William and Kate met Professor Teoh, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, and anaesthetist Dr Jo Bray, who were part of the support team that helped bring George and Charlotte into the world, during a Buckingham Palace garden party.

The royal couple with Princess Charlotte (Yui Mok/PA)

William and Kate's children were born at the Lindo Wing, the private maternity unit of the St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, central London, with Charlotte delivered by consultant obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston on May 2 2015 while Sir Marcus Setchell performed the same role for George who was born on July 22 2013.

Prof Teoh said: "For anything that could possibly go wrong we had a team of people behind each speciality, everybody was sworn to secrecy about what the event was."

He said the total team in place for the royal births was about 23: "We had a team of obstetricians, gynaecologists, surgeons, haematologists, and theatre staff."

Kate had some of the top medical staff from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - which runs St Mary's Hospital - allocated to help deliver her children.

The family on a ski holiday in the French Alps (John Stillwell/PA)

Dr Bray said it was a "huge honour and very special for the hospital as well, at a time the NHS needed a bit of a pick-up really. It was a really big morale booster for St Mary's actually, at that time".

Prof Teoh said "it felt very flattering" to be part of the medical team handling the royal births adding: "The press were there but so were our staff, we really enjoyed being part of the whole thing."

He said they had a brief chat with William and Kate who mingled with the garden party guests who included Chief Superintendent Colin Morgan who was in charge of policing operations around St Mary's Hospital.

Prof Teoh said about Kate: "She was very appreciative of what happened and said there were a lot more people behind the scenes than (would be apparent)."

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